Adoption of Improved Forage Technologies and Its Effect on Household Income Among Dairy Farmers in Bomet County, Kenya

Abstract

Promoting the adoption of improved forage legumes among dairy farmers is pertinent to improving protein intake by the animals and hence increasing dairy productivity. This study characterized dairy forage technologies, assessed the factors influencing the adoption of improved forage technologies and established their effects on household income. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design and a multistage sampling technique for the 282 dairy farmers. Data was collected using both structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The factors influencing the adoption of improved forage technologies was analyzed using Multivariate probit. The effects of improved forage technologies on household income was analyzed using the endogenous treatment regression model. The results show that 11 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent and 8 percent of farmers adopted the four technologies of desmodium, lucerne, sesbania sesban and calliandra respectively. The multivariate probit results showed that membership in dairy cooperative, years of schooling, distance to market, gender, experience, farm size, extension services, perceived benefit of the technology, breed type and the number of lactating cows significantly influenced adoption of improved forage technologies. The endogenous treatment regression model results show that adopting improved forage technologies increased household income. It was concluded that the adoption of improved forage technologies has an impact on household income and the adoption of forage legumes was still low. The study recommends that government and policy makers should come up with ways to encourage adoption of forage legumes, mainly fodder trees such as organizing field days, establishment of demonstration fields and research stations, training centers for forage training and encourage more farmers to join dairy cooperatives.